The Secret Tax Hiding in Plain Sight! 

As a housewife, I can confirm that administrative burden is almost a part-tome job. Last year I spent 20 hours (no exaggeration) on the phone trying yo get approved for a covered Healthcare service. I eventually gave up and just paid out of pocket. So mad.

Phil has completed his transformation from looking like my dad to rockstar

A year ago I helped my boyfriend get his unemployment benefits from 2020 that he didn't get because the process was too complicated... it took about a month and dozens of phone calls, many nights without much sleep and me feeling like i'd had a heart attack. It was awful... yet 100% worth it. Things need to change.

This video was informative and depressing at the same time. The government puts out requirements to the citizens and makes it time consuming and difficult to meet the requirements.

So glad you are doing an episode on this!! We need to teach us in the middle class how so many states put so many hoops between citizens and the benefits they are entitled to

I worked at a nonprofit that dealt with enrolling people in government sponsored childcare benefits and the application we had people fill out was about 16 pages long, not including the portions with just rules on them.

That comment about the time it takes to call the permit office is real. I am trying to build a retail store in Virginia and literally just got off the phone with them right before watching this episode. This was probably the 27th time in the last 3 months that I have had to call them about a tiny minutia of bureaucratic detail that wasn't clear and was holding up my permit. Each time, I have to wait on the phone so long since their callback feature never seems to work. I have probably spent 2 entire workweeks over the last 3 months trying to get this building permit done.

Here in Australia the tax form is online and pre filled with almost everything and you just need to report what they miss. Taxes are easy to deal with and can be done in under an hour

Thank you for addressing this. Disability programs are horrendous for people who are already struggling.

I know how annoying and cumbersome it is to fill out paperwork like this, but I never knew you could call it a time tax until now.

I grew up poor and on government benefits and as an adult, I still am on government benefits until my husband finishes his medical degree and training. I am so grateful for the time my mother spent figuring out the welfare and rental system and educating me. I've already avoided a bunch of traps and gotten benefits I likely wouldn't have known about. It still sucks time out of my life every single week, but at least it's a lot less time than it would've been.

As a government employee, I feel this down to my core. I work for Social Services. As much as the clients don't like the bureaucracy, the employees don't like it either. We unfortunately don't make the policy and have to go through all the bs just to get the cases authorized. It's a two way street of exhaustion.

Other countries don't put the burden of figuring out taxes on individuals. In Japan, for example, all the taxes are figured out by the government, which already has much of the information we have to "file" via taxes, such as our wages, benefits, etc. Thank you for these amazing and helpful videos!

Thank you for bringing attention to this. The benefits that are meant to help you often become so burdensome that they keep you stuck in poverty.

I feel like I just watched a man age younger. Philip started off looking like a typical middle class dad in his 40s and now looks like a 18 year old high school senior. Not judging him, I like his style, just a bit of a surprise is all.

Respect to Philip's neck for supporting his right-sided hair

Thank you for this video, very true about the "time tax" . I dread when I have to call and submit changes for my Medicaid. Long, annoying wait time on phone, and then usually a rude person.

THANK YOU for discussing how unfairly the system can be weighed for people seeking aid. My mother and I had to to take off multiple days of school/work just to get me qualified for our state level disabled assistance program so I could get funding/support for college!

I'm glad you uploaded this video but I think you missed an opportunity (at least in this video, you might have mentioned it elsewhere). Specifically I'm referring to how the reason why paying income taxes in the USA is so complicated is because tax preparation companies lobby Congress to prevent making it easier like other countries do. It's a deliberate effort by these large corporations to make it more difficult so US citizens instead pay them to help with it. IMO it is a form of legalized extortion.

I’ve been living off food stamps for a couple of years now. It is a lot of paperwork. I’m working to break away from the system and have financial freedoms

The intro reminded me to do my own taxes, so I did them in less than 15 minutes and then returned to the video to hear that in the US they take 11 hours. As a student with a parttime job, I am incredibly thankful that my government already fills in everything they know about me (like my income from the job) and just asks me 'hey is this correct, did you switch jobs/have a kid/get married etc' and when these changes are added I am done. I now know that I will be refunded just over a hunderd euro's in overpaid taxes. And all it took was going to the site, saying 'nope nothing changed, still a broke student' and now in a month or so I will have my money back. It is kind of amazing yet sad that your system is this way. I hope you all get through it okay.

My HMO regularly denied the first claim I put in. So, I just started making duplicates of the paperwork. They always took the second one. But what a waste of my time!

Wow, I guess I never realized that. I’m on SSI and SNAP, and I just figured the government was doing it’s job. SNAP is a snap to keep up with, but SSI is definitely harder. It took 11 months to apply to SSI because my code number was deleted at the approval place, and had to be resend. But, It happened, and I’m happy we did.

Thank you SO MUCH for explaining that everyone gets money from the government in one way or another.

Another reason governments are a hassle to deal with is they basically have no skin in the game. Governments have no incentive to serve the people better, because they can't lose 'customers' to a rival government, especially if the services are for the poor. And even when they can lose citizens, like rich people leaving, they can write laws that punish people for leaving for better jurisdictions, so they write the rules so they don't have to deal with any competition, while at the same time enforcing antitrust laws against corporations, while being the biggest actual monopoly themselves !

I remember a presentation I did for my American Government class was also that politicians like bureaucracy because they have staffers that can "cut through the red tape" and become conduits through the burden which gives them free brownie points with the individual constituent and makes for a good story of how the congressman "helped the little guy" out through the problems they were having.

I recent having to spend time to get made up in the morning and drive to work. My employer does not pay for that. I do. Remote work really highlighted that fact.

Ah, the joy of living in a sociopathic society. Thank you both for highlighting this serious problem.

Anyone ever dealt with Mail In Rebate? They design it for people to fail or give up.

I have a feeling that it comes down to some people having a fundamental idea that poor people are lazy and that making them jump thru hoops to get help is a test of some sort. Or this idea that, if it was hard for me to get where I am today, I'm going to make sure that others have to pay their dues.

Just wanted to say that you two are awesome people! Thank you for bringing awareness to this issue. Xx

I'm reminded of how companies such as ISPs will make it extremely easy to sign up for services with as little as a couple of clicks, as well as to increase your services, but to reduce or cancel services, they force you to phone a call-center and sit on hold for an hour in order to try to make you give up and abandon the attempt before you finally get to a "customer-retention agent" who tries to pressure you into not cancelling and tries to actually upsell you instead. If the government hasn't made that blatant violation illegal, then it certainly won't make its own dark-patterns illegal. 😒

This video was very informative, but it's also very depressing. I hate how people tend to use this to say how inefficient gov is.

I thought he said “a**holes” instead of “hassles” at first @3:26 😂

I knew there was a lot of this administrative burden for "poor people" benefits... but I had never considered how "rich peope benefits" like IRAs were easy to get and also a government handout. If we're giving EVERYONE tax cuts for saving for retirement, even people who don't need it, why not give EVERYONE food stamps? Mind blown.

In Australia you can go online and the government *pre-fills* the tax return for you - for a lot of people they just need to read, adjust if necessary and click to submit!

In Australia the Tax Commissioner makes reports on tax collection. If the administration cost of a tax, fee, levy is more than the income received, he recommend to the government that is be removed. There is no income tax for earnings below AU$18,200. 40% of the population pays no tax at all. Dividends are taxed at the company rate, before distribution to shareholders. If they are at marginal income, they get a tax return.

Thats crazy how you can overcomplicate things in a weird way just to make your shady moves less visible for others

As a European I cannot relate to this at all. Well, at least for the government stuff most is fairly straightforward.

Good vid, different way to view the system. Kinda make you think if it adds to stuff like crime. It may be easier for someone fallen on hard times to shoplift vs filling out complicated forms. Banks and credit card, and insurance companies are notorious for this tactic too. Kinda like the no surprises act leads you in a loop, you have to get the cpt codes, them you call the insurance they say it's the hospital responsibly the hospital says it's the insurance responsibly, if you do get the codes and give them, and its billed wrong well you gave them the codes so its on you

I'm loving Phil rocking the early 00s emo look. 🤘🏻

Thank you for bringing this up. 👍👍👍

Many of these resources aren't budgeted to help everyone who is eligible. This 'tax' helps maintain the narrative that the most worthy are the ones getting the spots in the programs. Those who waited their turn, those who tried the hardest, those who wanted it most. Americans are obsessed with making poor people earn and prove their right to exist.

Great video! Considering my doctor said i should go on disability in october and I’ve yet to fill out the forms because I’m working 10hrs a week and can pay my bills and don’t want to do the work due to low energy… i feel this 👀.

Its also a tax when you have to jump through bureaucratic hurdles on behalf of a loved one in need. Don't even get me started on folks who quit their jobs to become full time caregivers because their parent can't afford residential care, which can bite them hard when it comes time for them to be old themselves in the form of lost Social Security.

I remember in 2020 when everyone was on unemployment, man that was such a hassle trying to get my money.

I know a handicapped couple literally suffering in despair cause they don’t even know how to get help. State social workers abandoned them. Its quite disturbing actually.

I definitely feel this one! Not only are forms confusing but as a graphic designer these government websites are "designed" to make things difficult to navigate. Basically the opposite of the purpose of graphic design.

Sweet Brown said it best when she said "Ain't nobody got time fo dat!!"

While not the exact stats you were claiming we needed, couldn’t we get an idea by seeing how much fraud is happening in other countries that has less administrative burden?

I'm Finnish, 25 year old, and I have spent like 1 hour in total on taxes in my entire life! The grass is greener on the other side, I'm telling you!

That 5-15% of fraud within government benefits should be compared with the % of fraud within government support of “upper class” services as well

OMG! You're finally saying what I complain about all the time, but nobody seems to listen or they treat me as if I were just "another Karen". Thank you!

Food for thought! Thank you for the point! 👍

Powerful episode. This almost goes hand in hand with anther interesting view point: Crimes that are punished with a simple fee are just to punish the poor. Another example of regressive policies as $100 to me might blow my budget away but you can pay and not break a sweat.

I am so glad I live in Canada, where life is a lot easier. (when it comes to taxes and government forms)

Maybe this is an Iowa thing. Our ebt is all on the phone, DHS calls you, almost no one working two jobs would qualify and the online application takes 10minuets. No drug tests. Must be really hard in other places

Thank for encouraging me. I have been genuinely discouraged from continuing to fight for the help i need am qualified for

We're in $32,000,000,000,000.00 in debt ($247,000 per tax payer). Imagine how bad it would be if getting free money was easier!

Tax credit is arguably not government assistence but the others for sure are.

Beautifully done and well said.

Excellent episode!

TLDR: Time tax. Time spent completing forms, lining up for services. The poorer you are, you more you pay.

Thank you guys for such fun, informative and deep thought videos. I use three of your videos in my freshman English course to discuss, debate, write about financial issues. You all should come up with a curriculum for highschoolsers. I'm willing to help.

This weas an excellent video. I've been talking about this for years. Systems that offload the bureocracy to the benficiary of the "benefit" really go out of their way to make it difficult to access. Trying to access unemployment and maternity leave benefits this year and completely floored by how arduous it is. And I'm good at forms.

‘Administrative burden’……a necessary evil or hidden and accepted oppression ?

Both y’all’s hair looking lovely. Thanks for sharing your two cents on these important (and often overlooked) issues.

Amen, to this! As a foreigner, working with many highly educated foreigners, we keep sharing this observation about how much administrative time life in the USA requires. Time tax is a good label!

I handle this literal thing all the time with medi-cal and such that I get doctors thinking I work in healthcare administration with how much I know and get through it all. 😅not even close.

I'm all for a smaller less involved government. I find it hard to believe that more government means less bureaucracy.

Here in Washington DC, I spent 3 hours fighting a parking ticket that was issued while I was trying to pay for my parking at a broken multi-space parking meter. Like the DC government didn't know their meter was broken? And why is it my job to document a broken meter and then fight the ticket on my own time? I felt like I worked for the District of Columbia for that entire time.

Guys... This vidéo was perfect ! The timing and all BRAVO ! Great content ! Great subject Keep it up !

Bring back the moustache!

Somewhere, Louis Rossman is screaming "YES"

Living? There's gonna be a tax for that.

Phil: “It’s not a phase”

I love to squeeze every penny out of my healthcare benefits, but I know I've spent hours and hours and HOURS on the phone doing it. Working with providers and insurance companies and everyone in between to get every penny I can. I'm sure I've wasted enormous amounts of time every single year on this, but it's well worth it to me. In fact, it's one of my life's great pleasures to get as much out of an insurance policy as legally possible! Maybe that makes me a sick-o or a nerd, but I totally understand there are many, many people who don't have the time, capacity or frankly the brain power to do what I do. It's a symptom of my privilege that I can afford to spend my time this way, and it's certainly not fair to the masses. Yes, it should be easier for people to access and use their benefits because they've paid for them. Imagine going online and buying a computer but the retailer never shipped it to you and you never received it. That's what it's like. You just never get what you paid for. I think more people need to get fed up and speak up to their representatives because this is outright theft, not a tax. I don't know why so many people put up with it.

It's everything everywhere all at once

Love how as soon as Phil became a dad he starting aging in reverse. Damn, he looks so young and sexy right now. He gave birth to his own rebellious teen.

The VA is really bad for this. A small percentage of americans are veterans (about 7%) and even a smaller number are disabled, yet veterans have to jump through hoops, many even hire lawyer firms who gets a cut of the benefits. Its sad because Vets have earned this!

Very clever! Love it!

This is really PBS for adults, and I keep forgetting that at times hahaha. Then I hear Philip say “assholes,” and I’m like oh, this is isn’t your regular PBS kids 😂😂

How about you do not owe taxes to irs,dmv,state income, property, but you have to look in to understand and take action

The worst is when u have to pay money for half-ass force service

Another great episode

I may be good at dealing with the bureaucracy of paperwork, applying for different programs, taxes ect. But I hate it I just hate doing it its mind numbingly boring

This is why some people choose just to be homeless, they don't have to pay time tax or regular tax. And those who get paid under the table and don't file taxes, they are saving time and money and enjoy the benefits of the country without adding to it.

Good job guys. Your awesome.

Me paying 100 bucks for turbo tax, then 500 more than my regular 7k withdrawals from my payroll

Phillip Olson went from Guy with 70s stash To Because tonight will be the night that I will fall for you Over again Don't make me change my mind 😂

Interesting from a Danish perspective, our tax form is online and consists of fields with explanations, relating to driving expenses for work etc. Usually takes me less than 10 min to complete yearly, as they collect a ton of information from automatic sources, such as workplace, stock trading etc. And Insurance claims form is 5 text fields, and can be done over the phone in like 5 min.

Dude, your band rocks!!! ....oh, and cool Two Cents episode.

The cheese tax is more troublesome. You gotta pay the Cheese tax every time you're cooking'. When the cheese comes out this puppy comes lookin'. The rules are the rules, and the facts are the facts, and when the cheese drawer opens you gotta pay THE TAX!

I literally will walk out of a restaurant if they take too long to serve. But some time overhead is expected. You can't expect to see all green lights when you drive. And to optimize some systems could be more expensive than the gains.

The upper echelon of America gets the most entitlements .... capitalist socialism benefits American rich the most 😮

I yeeted out of the SNAP application process because I received a 50-page packet in the mail of steps I needed to do and forms that I needed to fill out and re-send via snail mail. I don't even have stamps for snail mail.

I've been on Snap and unemployment. I never needed to get drug tests, fingerprinted, or keep time sheets. I don't know of any state that requires all of those forms for one thing. It's probably one state requires some things, another state requires different things and they're adding them together. Also requirements for recertification are often way easier than getting benefits in the first place. Nowadays, with internet the process is pretty streamlined.

I though you gonna talk about inflation....that would be another secret tax for everybody for sure!

@1:03 Prime example of fighting a ticket in NYC. Posted a temporary registration on my windshield, and still got a ticket. They claim it was illegible. Utter B.S.

Please tell me that sports gambling is among your next topics! Just legalized in MA and I fear it's going to cause a problem gambling epidemic.